Change
by Property of Sirius Black
Summary: Years after Ghost gets locked up and Jake and Lily start dating a woman from Jake's past emerges. When Jake learns that he is a father the stage is set for drama, humor, and a whole lot of fun.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the Takers and if I did Ghost would have been killed immediately following his return.

"Life is good, ain't it Gents?" A smooth but gently mocking voice said as he floated into their meeting place. Jake Attica, the owner of their current location, the hottest elite club in town, moved to sit in his favorite leather chair opposite the one his heavily tattooed and talented best friend A.J. was occupying. A.J. mirrored his smirk before chipping in, "Damn well it is governor."

"I swear I'll have the arse of the next bloody fool to mock my accent." A tall imposing man in a black Armani suit said. Gordon Cozier's face betrayed his threat; the "Gent" could take the running joke.

"You love the jokes really." John stated.

"G that's not fair. You pricks can be racist against me why can't we crack on your posh accent?"

"A.J. for the last time, you have no right to play the race card." Jake said smiling; he loved Ivy League for this exact reason. Dude was a trip.

"That's it. I will no longer stand for this oppression! No longer will I sit in the front of the choppers or always drive the car. I will have freedom! The time for liberation is now! You're with me right John?"

"Hell nah Ivy League!"

"You see what your seedy black brainwashing has done? He's afraid to stand with his own people!"

"A.J. as hard it was growing up in the suburbs, going to private school, I assure you you're struggle has long since ended." Jake continued, "I'm here for you brother and so are G, Jesse, and John." A.J. flicked him off. "See Jakey we can't be down any longer. Even after I have beautifully articulated my point you want to go and be sarcastic. You racist bastards will burn in hell for the way you treat me. I personally hope that when you drop the soap down there Lucifer his-motherfuckin-white-self rapes your asses."

Jesse laughed loudly almost falling of the stool he was seated on. Soon the whole room was filled with the hearty laughter of the country's finest Takers. "Man, A.J. you tryna act like you all hard and shit. I'm sick of white boys that smoke a little green and suddenly think they can steal our struggle."

Gordon nodded. "A.J. sit your arse down. As the self-proclaimed minority you've got no say here."

"Whatever G you're accent is ridiculous and all of you can kiss my natural white ass."

"You're just jealous of his incredibly enticing accent." Lily said with a grin entering the room carrying a chilled bucket of Dom.

"Ah the lovely Lily, the fairest _and_ wisest maiden of the land." Gordon sent her a flirty wink.

"The only voice you better be enticed by is mine." Jake growled giving her a mock glare. "Who ordered the Dom?"

"Oh I brought it for my secret lover Johnny Boy but I made the Red-head at the bar pay for it." She said settling onto Jake's lap. She chuckled as all of the men leaned forward to check her out.

"That bitch is most def a grenade." Jesse whistled fully appreciating the view. Anything with a pulse and vagina did it for him but he didn't mind them being attractive. This one was had that Jessica Rabbit red hair too! She was going to be a fun night. "Johnny don't sweat but she is definitely in need of some chocolate. I'm out bro, I've got people to see, pussy to fuck." He flashed a smile and disappeared out the door.

Normally, Jake would have told him to watch his mouth but he was transfixed by a sexy something downstairs. He absent-mindedly shoved Lily from his lap so he could get up. As soon as he confirmed his sighting he flew out the door and down the stairs. Everyone stood; alarmed at what could have sent the normally reserved Jake into action and what they saw was far from what they had expected.

Jake flew down the stairs onto the main bar floor winding his way the sweaty, fabulous, dancing bodies moving to Trey Songz's hot beats. He reached her in no time pulling her away from the faceless guy she had been dancing with. "What the…Jake?" His name fell off her lips in a hopeful question.

"Tiff? Baby you don't know how good it is to see you." They hugged each other tightly, her arms securely around his neck and his resting around her hips. They pulled back the tiniest bit back to take in each other's features. Tiffany Maddox had waited years to see his face again and she was not disappointed. If he was scorching hot in high school, he was now sex personified. The expensive suit only added to his impeccable looks.

Tiffany herself looked just like she did in high school. Just as gorgeous, but her look had matured. She now possessed wide womanly hips, a fuller chest, and a more soulful eye. She had filled out in all the right places and looked just like every man's fantasy.

The other takers and Lily were shocked by the unusual image of Jake holding the foreign woman so familiarly. They were touching and smiling and laughing.

"If he asks, tell him I'm in the office." Lily said in a quiet voice before breezing out of the room.

"What the hell is he doing? He should know by now you don't shit where you eat." John said shaking his head.

"Nah.."G looks towards the door, "Jake loves Lily too much to cheat on her."

"Yeah, have some faith in the man." A.J. took off his signature fedora before running his right hand through the silky locks. He hoped his friend wasn't fucking up like it looked like he was. Jake was too smart for that and A.J. was sure that Lily and Jake's love was solid.

"I wouldn't be so sure. He isn't exactly helping his case by looking at her like that or keeping that hold on her." They stared down at the happy couple. They watched as Jake leaned in to her and said something before leading her to the right side of the club where they kept the private rooms. "Bingo."

"That doesn't mean anything John there's more to that side of the club than the rooms. Maybe he's guiding her safely to the restroom."

"Or taking her to the bathroom for good old club sex."

G was much less convinced of his friend's innocence. It wasn't a good look but still he had to defend his boy. "He wouldn't do that at their club. Maybe he would cheat but he wouldn't bring her here where we could all see. Besides she could be a very good friend."

"So good a friend that they're fucking?" John shot out quick as a flash. It wasn't like he didn't love Jake because he did but he didn't understand anyone else not giving in to sins of the flesh. Playboy Johnny was loyal, just not to his women and naturally assumed that Jake and that girl had to have something going on. "If they were just friends we would know her already or he would have brought her up and introduced her." Neither Gordon nor A.J. could fight that very valid point. They just hoped for Lily's sake it wasn't true.

Jake guided the woman Tiffany back to one of the available private room. She took in the extravagant interior. She walked over to the bar inside the room with him following. He picked up a glass and in his best flirty bartender voice asked "And what can I get a pretty lady like you?"

She smirked. "Well if you could manage it I would love if you'd give me a Screaming Orgasm."

He laughed loudly. "If memory serves me right, I have given you a million over the years. I think you've had one too many to make such a bold request."

"No woman has ever had too many Screaming Orgasms. In fact, it is the Orgasms that keep us sane."

"Are you saying all crazy bitches just need a good screwing? That sounds like some shit a man would say Tiff."

"I'm saying that you've got exactly one minute to give me one or it's gonna be on like Donkey Kong."

"You are too wack for the 21st century." Jake quickly fixed her drink and poured himself bourbon. When he looked up he saw that she was holding her now empty glass out expectantly. "Sorry ma'am you just missed the bartender." He moved over to the sectional couch and sat down. "Too bad. He just fixed me up with a nice bourbon I'm sure he would have down the same for you." She rolled her eyes filling her own glass up with vodka. When she had completed her drink she sat down on his lap.

"Tiffany."

"Jake."

"I can't believe you're here. I don't even know what happened but I don't care anymore I'm just happy you're here."

She looked around the room. "Oh Jake. I can't believe you own this place. It's so amazing. But I always knew you'd do big things with your life, that's why I was with you."

"Really?"

She put her finger to full mouth thinking. "Well that and you were good in bed."

He pouted. "I feel so dirty and used. Does that make me a whore?"

She roughly patted his face in fake sympathy. "Yeah but you were my whore." His smile evaporated. His whole demeanor changed and it scared her. It had been so nice acting as if there was nothing wrong with them. She knew what was coming before his lips parted. "Why'd you do it?"

She sighed and looked down at her lap. She could feel his intense gaze and shrank under its heat. Jake always did have the divine ability of making her feel like a child. "Um…" she started but the sound died in her throat.

"Kitty? Tell me. I have the right to know." The silence was loud as she pondered her options. Jake had an excellent bullshit detector but lying seemed like the best option. "Don't you dare lie to me." _Shit._ They had been reunited less than an hour but he was right back to reading her mind. "I mean fuck Tiffany. If you met someone else you should have just said so."

"How could you think that after all we went through? You think I'm some dumb bitch that just got bored of you, moved on without reason or notice?"

"If not then why did you move to another fucking state? Why would you up and move to your grandmother's? You hated her more than you hate feminists. Huh? WHY'D YOU LEAVE IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME?"

*"I WAS PREGNANT!" Her voice cracked. She shot up from her spot on his lap and rounded on him. "I was pregnant okay and I didn't know what to do and so…I left okay? I didn't know what else to do." She was a jumble of emotions primarily anger and fear.

Jake sat frozen, his mind slowly processing her words. She left because she was pregnant. "Whose was it?" As soon as the last word slithered out of his mouth her hand shot out and slapped him, HARD. "What the fuck type of question is that? You obviously have such a high fucking opinion of me to think I was such a slut." She was physically quaking in anger. How could Jake, _her Jake_ ask such a ridiculous question? I'd heard of guys doing it but he wasn't like that. She wasn't a Jerry Springer baby mama for fuck's sake. "Have you conveniently forgotten that YOU were the one to corrupt me? You were my first and my only for a long ass time Jake."

"I'm…"

"No! I wasn't screwing behind your back. You know I'm glad I made the decision I did. It's abundantly clear you weren't ready to be a father and you still aren't." She threw her glass against the wall before tossing the door open and storming out. The eldest Attica child was hot on her heels.

"Tiffany!" Finally catching up with her he grabbed her arm and turned her toward him. "What did you do to my child?"

"Oh now it's your child?"

"Fuck yes it's my child."

"You lost the right to that child years ago don't act like…"

"I LOST the right? You took it from me! You ran off in the middle of the night. Wouldn't answer my calls, my texts, my letters, what was I supposed to do?" They stared each other down. "Answer my question. You better not have done what I think you did."

Her face contorted in anger and she stepped in his face. "What do you think I did? Aborted the baby? Gave it for adoption? So what if I did?"

"Tiffany don't fucking try me. Where is my baby?" She stared him downing refusing to speak. He grabbed her arms and she pushed him back. "Fuck you Jake." He went back to grab her again when he was roughly pushed back by a young blonde man.

A.J. gripped his friend who had clearly lost his mind. Jake was the first to advocate treating women right and yet here he was grabbing on this strange woman with fury in his eye as if he was about to strike. "Jake you need to calm down." He exchanged a look with G and John who had merged on the scene just behind him.

It was like Jake didn't even hear him. His eyes had gone unfocused from the intensity of his anger. "Tiffany Anne Maddox I swear to God…"

"Not that you deserve to know but MY daughter is currently at home, resting peacefully because she doesn't need you or this stupid drama. I have been raising her perfectly without you and with the way you act it's clear that I made the right decision."

"She is my daughter too."

"Negro donating some sperm does not constitute fatherhood."

"You didn't allow me to even try. You gone talk about how I wasn't there when you didn't give me a fucking choice. I have known I'm a father all of six seconds and…"Even over the sound of the blasting music they all heard the loud crash to their left. Five heads whipped around to see Lily frozen. A drink tray lay at her feet with a pool of liquor and broken glass surrounding it. Her gaze focused on Jake before switching to Tiffany before going right back to her boyfriend. She was so stoic she didn't even notice the servers that rushed to clean up the mess. Her mouth opened and then suddenly snapped shut.

Jake stepped toward her, "Lily." She shook her head before walking back toward the office.

Tiffany used that as her clean break. She darted out the club. A.J. nodded at Jake before following her out.

"Jake", Gordon started.

"I know." Jake led them to the bar where he grabbed a bottle of Everclear and poured it in the largest glass he could find. "Jake…" He held up his hand, chugging the contents of his glass before refilling it to the brim. He had drunk half the glass before John yanked it from him. "Go talk to her."

"Did you see how she looked at me? She doesn't want to hear anything I have to say. She...oh God. My Lily hates me. Tiffany hates me. A daughter I didn't even know I had hates me." He dragged his hand down his face. When he looked up G and John were surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Only I could fuck up like this."

"Jake get your arse in there and talk to her. Getting pissed isn't going to help this." He still saw the hesitancy. "Go!" He ordered. Jake sighed before following orders and making his way to the back of the club. "John, follow him and make sure he doesn't do anything rash."

"You got it G." He followed after the broken man. Upon arrival they found the office door closed. John patted Jake's shoulder before telling him to go in.

A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I plan to update by Sunday. Reviews make me happy. The happier I am the more I write!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the Takers.

Jake inhaled deeply and paused, holding the club air in. John smiled. "You know, suffocating yourself really isn't going to work." Jake finally exhaled, glaring at his friend. He could do this. Lilly would be rational right? She had put up with a lot worse with Ghost and their relationship was not nearly as strong as Jake and Lilly's. But that face. God that look she had just minutes before. It was that of a child who had seen their dad hitting their mom or their beloved pet being run over by a monster truck. How could he face her when he had caused her such pain? Straightening his back and steeling himself for an argument, Jake led John Boy into the office.

Lilly tore her eyes away from the Russian painting she had been staring at to gaze wearily at the intruders. She put down her glass of warm cranberry juice and stood. They stared at each other across the battlefield. Finally, he broke the silence. "Baby I don't know what you're thinking you saw or heard but believe me it's not nearly as…"

"What?" There was quiet anger in her voice. "It isn't what it looks like? Are you really gonna use that line on me Jake?" She crossed her skinny arms, holding herself together.

"You really have no reason to be upset." He immediately regretted those words.

"I don't have a reason to be upset? You know what Jake, you're full of it. You say you're so much better but you're not. You talk about the guys for boning everyone but what do you do? You fuck around behind my back. You tell Jesse to stop being a player. But then you do much worse, you cheat on your GIRLFRIEND!"

"I didn't cheat on you, baby."

"Oh so that wasn't your jump-off coming into OUR club telling you she had your baby?" Gaining confidence with her mounting anger she strode across the room until she was right in his face. She looked over the lines of his beautiful face and her heart broke. Her Jake had messed up. He had broken his promise to never hurt her. "You little…uhhh." She was so hot she could think straight. "After all the shit you talked about Ghost…" She started horribly imitating his voice, "How you gone love someone who has children and don't do a damn thing with 'em. How you gone act like it don't kill you that he got that chick pregnant when he was supposed to be loving you?" She huffed. "What the hell makes you so much better? Last I checked your dick wasn't made of gold and your name wasn't Jesus." John was amused he had never seen her so mad.

Jake tried to put his hands on her arms but she took a step back. He sighed and looked around the room. Suddenly he was struck by the number of times they had had sex in that very room and he remembered the simple times they had just hung out and talked about the world together in there. He loved her. "Just listen okay? That woman was an old friend." Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Yes, a friend. Well, okay a girlfriend but that was 10 years ago. We dated for 2 years and yes we were in love but she left me. I didn't know why until tonight." He looked back at John who nodded at him. "She was pregnant. She left to have my child. I don't know much that's all she told me before she ran off."

"She gave birth to a girl. I don't know her real name or her nickname. I don't know her birthday or her favorite color. I don't know what her first word was or when she started talking. I don't know when she took her first step or when she was potty trained. I don't know when she lost her first tooth or when she learned to ride a bike. Hell, I don't even know what she looks like. All of that was taken from me." That look of pain in his eyes convinced her to back down. She slowly stepped into his arms. As soon as she was close enough, his arms encircled her, trapping her in his love. John stayed behind them for 3 awkward seconds before quietly slipping out of the room.

"I'm sorry Jake." She knew how important family was to him. He had lost most of his family as a kid. His mother had left when Jesse was in diapers. His father jumped in and out of jail during most of his life. His Uncle Richard who had replaced his father and his mother in Jake's life died two years after Jake and Jesse moved in with him and they were handed down the short line of family members still alive until they finally wound up with their Aunt Ida. She had died in an armed robbery of a gas station leaving Jake to raise Jesse himself from age 19. Family was a tough subject for him and for him to have missed out on the love of having a child and for his daughter to not have him would be eating away at his sanity.

"I love you but please don't try to keep her away from me. I don't want to choose." The emotion in his voice was heavy.

"Jake…" She hesitated. "Do you think we might be able to see her soon?"

He pulled back to look down at her in complete adoration. "Really?"

"Jake the last thing I would do is keep you from anything you love, especially a child. If she is going to be a part of your life, she will be part of mine too."

He kissed her lovingly on the lips. It turned into a slow, passionate kiss. They moved to music only they could hear."I love you like a fat kid loves cake."

She smiled. Tiredly but contently she rested her head on his broad chest, listening to his heart beat. "Does that mean you want to eat me then mister?"

"Oh I always want to eat you, sweets."

* * *

AJ tossed his cigarette out of his car before slowly pulling up in front of an unattractive purple house. From where he sat he could still clearly make out Tiffany's Audi. She sat for a few minutes, probably collecting herself before finally exiting the vehicle. She stepped onto the curb and continued to the small blue house 3 houses down from the one AJ sat in front of. He watched as she fished in her clutch for her house key. After a beat she was opening the door and entering. He made a note in his phone of the address. When he looked up at the house again he could just make out a feminine figure in an upstairs window.

_I wonder if that's the kid's room,_ AJ thought. He couldn't believe Jake had a kid or that Jake never knew about her. _Shit got real tonight,_ he thought with a small chuckle. He sighed taking one last look at the house before pulling off.


End file.
